Exhibitions
Welcome to the Exhibitions page for the IAGS Conference 2025. Here, you will find details regarding upcoming exhibitions, including those by our partners.
Traces of Violence
Marcelo Brodsky
This essay deals with a Genocide, the first one in the 20th century, (1904-1908) performed by the German Kaiser and his army on the Nama and Herero ethnic groups in today's Namibia.
In collaboration with the European Centre for Constitutional and Human rights based in Berlin, that was defending the heirs of the victims, Brodsky researched historic images of the genocide to visually tell the story. He reached unknown images that were hidden in private archives around the world, mostly coming from German soldier photo albums.
His work is focused in the development of visual language that combines photography, text and painting to narrate different stories, basically to the new generations, that do not pay attention to any information that does not include images.
In the case of this genocide, London based scholar Mark Sealy advised Brodsky not to use these images as they are, since doing so he would be replicating the violence that was enacted on the victims. His solution to this dilemma was to place text in which the photographers/perpetrators, soldiers and colonisers, declare what they were doing in their own words.
Beyond Genocide & Echoes of Abandonment
Amy Fagin & Linda Paganelli
Roger Ballen Centre for Photography
Opening 21 October 6pm
Beyond Genocide is a series of contemporary illuminated manuscripts and installations that explore the global legacy of genocide and mass atrocity. By weaving together historical events, cultural symbols, and human testimony, the project creates a visual and emotional synthesis that goes beyond traditional scholarship. Each work invites audiences to reflect on the devastating impact of genocide, the resilience of communities, and the urgent responsibility to prevent future atrocities.
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This pioneering art initiative moves across time and geography, offering an alternative lens through which to examine the social, cultural, and political dimensions of mass violence. At its core, Beyond Genocide seeks to deepen understanding of human behaviour, foster empathy, and inspire dialogue and change. The project is structured as a growing, multi-year opus: in 2024, with the support of annual funding, Beyond Genocide launched an international juried competition to commission new works that expand and converse with the existing series. The project is guided by a steering committee of artists, genocide scholars, and curators, and is slated for completion within an eight-year timeframe.
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The inaugural winning commission Beyond Genocide #19: Yugoslavia (former) and independently titled “Echoes of Abandonment”, is a multi-sensory installation by artist Linda Paganelli, created in collaboration with research scholars Snežana Stanković and Emina Zoletic. Focusing on the former Yugoslavia—specifically Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo—the work centers on an illuminated cube. Its shifting surfaces layer images of violence-scarred sites, tombs, nature, archival imagery, regional symbols, prayers, and poetry evoking the lingering aftermath of genocide. A haunting soundscape weaves together Islamic, Jewish, and Christian liturgies, transforming into a contemporary lament. Interactive and immersive, the installation evokes the fragility of memory, the persistence of denial, and the ongoing struggle for justice.
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Together, Beyond Genocide and Echoes of Abandonment present art as a vital means of remembrance, visual dialogue, compassion, and collective healing.
Sudan's Children Call for Justice
Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
Waging Peace invites you to hear ‘Sudan’s children call for justice’ through an exhibition of Sudanese Children’s Drawings of genocide and mass atrocities in Sudan.
Sudan is currently being ravaged by war, the latest of which started on 15 April 2023. Today, the crisis in Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian, displacement, hunger, and protection crisis.
The Children’s Drawings of genocide and mass atrocities in Sudan are evidence of the unspeakable suffering experienced by child survivors in Sudan for the past 20 years. The drawings also evidence the dignity and agency of children who have endured unimaginable horrors, from Darfur’s genocide starting in 2003, to the destruction of cities, villages and communities throughout Sudan caused by the current war.
This exhibition sees the Children’s Drawings presented in their full dignity. These resilient, resourceful artists made it clear to us that they were survivors, not victims.
We have sought to honour their legacy through the drawings’ regular use in museum exhibitions, by lawyers, educators, researchers, and media professionals. The Children’s Drawings were accepted as contextual evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur at the International Criminal Court (ICC) when former President Omar Al-Bashir and three other high-level accomplices were indicted by the Court. Originals of the drawings now reside on permanent loan at The Wiener Holocaust Library.
In April 2024 Waging Peace launched a book featuring the children’s voices, and a revised second edition was launched in July 2025.
Waging Peace is a UK registered charity (registered number 1124746) that documents human rights abuses and violations in Sudan, and helps the Sudanese community in the UK, with a focus on those at the sharp end of the immigration system, to build meaningful lives in the UK. We have particular expertise on Sudan, having focused exclusively on the country since 2004 when we were founded as a non-governmental organisation under this name. Throughout our over 20-year history, we have gathered testimony from thousands of Sudanese individuals seeking asylum, and kept informed about the situation in Sudan through contacts within the diaspora, as well as with policymakers, politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, and ordinary citizens in Sudan.
A Photo Exhibition of Remembrance and Resilience
Mohammed Ihsan & Hesso Hurmi
Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
Opening 20 October 5:30pm
This photo exhibition, curated by Dr. Mohammed Ihsan, presents a powerful collection of photographs documenting the Kurdish experience of genocide, displacement, and resilience. Through his lens, Dr. Ihsan has captured moments of survival, memory, and identity, shedding light on the stories of those who have lived through trauma and the ongoing fight for cultural preservation.
The exhibition aims to create a visual archive of Kurdish history, highlighting the human cost of conflict and the importance of bearing witness to past atrocities. Dr. Ihsan’s photographs offer a compelling exploration of the role of memory in the Kurdish community, using photography as a tool for both documentation and healing. His work, paired with accompanying narratives, invites the viewer to
connect emotionally with the lived experiences of Kurdish survivors, both in exile and within their homeland.
The exhibition will include a series of thematic photo displays, accompanied by discussions and reflections on the power of visual art in preserving history.
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The goal of the exhibition is to honour the stories of survival, resistance, and resilience within the Kurdish community, while also providing an educational tool to raise awareness about the importance of remembering and understanding genocide. The impact of this exhibition is to inspire empathy, dialogue, and a commitment to using art as a means of collective remembrance and social change.
Artwork that Tells the Stories of Genocide
Ashti Shegani
Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre
Opening 20 October 5:30pm
Ashti Shegani’s artwork serves as a poignant exploration of the enduring effects of genocide, capturing the pain, resilience, and survival of communities affected by historical atrocities. Through a blend of visual mediums, Shegani creates powerful, evocative pieces that reflect the personal and collective trauma of genocide, particularly focusing on the Kurdish experience. Each artwork tells a
unique story, blending cultural symbolism with raw emotional expression, offering a visual narrative that seeks to preserve memory and honor those lost.
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This exhibition presents a series of paintings, mixed media works, and installations created by Shegani, each piece acting as a witness to the atrocities that have shaped the Kurdish people’s history. The artist’s work is deeply rooted in themes of loss, displacement, and the struggle for identity, while also celebrating resilience and hope. Through these pieces, Shegani invites the viewer to engage
in a profound dialogue about the importance of remembering past horrors and understanding their ongoing impact on future generations.
South-South Conversation
Marcelo Brodsky
Roger Ballen Centre for Photography
Opening 21 October 6pm
Brodsky's work is based in the relationship between words and images, since his most known piece, “The Class”, referred to the victims of the Argentinean dictatorship. After “Buena Memoria” (Good Memory), his essay on Memory and Human Rights and on the kidnapping and disappearance of his brother Fernando by the dictatorship, he developed many visual essays related with social struggles in different contexts, notably “1968, The Fire of Ideas” that is a selection of images of resistance for change in the late sixties around the world. In these essays he combines his own photographs and photographs of other photographers that he licensed and then intervened with text, ink, aquarelle and crayon.
Brodsky's 1968 research led him to Dakar, Cape Town, Alexandria, Casablanca… African cities where there were street actions of anti-government resistance. His interest in African issues grew as he believes that the South-South exchange has a lot of potential for development. Perhaps one of the solutions to counter the hegemony of the central powers among us lays in a stronger cultural and economic cooperation and exchange within the Southern Hemisphere.
He started his research on the African fight for independence, beginning with the ex-colonies of Portugal after 1974, and extending it to other anti-colonial fights, mostly in the late sixties and seventies. Later on In cooperation with South African Photographer Gideon Mendel they worked in four triptychs with Mendel's images of the popular movements against Apartheid in South Africa in the eighties. This exhibition is a selection of these pieces.
His work intends to transmit experience and history to the younger generations using images as the basic tool. If here are no images, there is no interest. Based on visual material, he researches history and develop visual language that combines photography, text and painting.
Chaos has Many Faces
Roger Ballen
Roger Ballen Centre for Photography
Opening 21 October 6pm
At the heart of the exhibition is the launch of Spirits and Spaces — the first major body of colour work by Roger Ballen, one of the most celebrated photographic artists of our time. Over a career spanning more than five decades, Ballen’s work has redefined the boundaries between photography, psychology, and the subconscious. Shown in leading museums worldwide and studied for its raw power and visual complexity, Ballen’s images have become synonymous with a genre-defining exploration of the human condition.
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Now, with Spirits and Spaces — published internationally by Thames & Hudson — Ballen takes his work into bold new territory, embracing colour for the first time to create surreal, unsettling dreamscapes that navigate chaos, memory, and the afterlife. The exhibition, curated by Marguerite Rossouw, Artistic Director of the Roger Ballen Centre, transforms these works into an immersive environment, offering audiences a chance to experience Ballen’s world at its most ambitious and psychologically charged.
Alongside Spirits and Spaces, the exhibition presents:
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Beyond Genocide, led by U.S. artist Amy Fagin with Italian artist Linda Paganelli, uses illuminated manuscripts, sound, and installation to confront the legacies of mass atrocity.
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South–South Conversations, curated by Argentine artist Marcelo Brodsky, traces resistance movements across Africa and Latin America through photography, text, and painting.
Together, these works form a multi-layered investigation into violence, memory, and the imagination. Yet it is Ballen’s Spirits and Spaces — launching at his own Centre in Johannesburg — that sets the tone, framing the exhibition as a confrontation with chaos in all its forms: historical, political, cultural, and psychological.
Running until 31 January 2026, the exhibition affirms the Roger Ballen Centre’s role as a space where art, ideas, and urgent contemporary questions converge — with one of the world’s most distinctive visual artists at its helm.